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interminable. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
interminable, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
interminable in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
interminable you have here. The definition of the word
interminable will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
interminable, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle French interminable, from Late Latin interminabilis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
interminable (comparative more interminable, superlative most interminable)
- Existing or occurring without interruption or end; ceaseless, unending.
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Crawley of Queen’s Crawley”, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC, page 61:After supper Sir Pitt Crawley began to smoke his pipe; and when it became quite dark, he lighted the rushlight in the tin candlestick, and producing from an interminable pocket a huge mass of papers, began reading them, and putting them in order.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, , →OCLC, part I, page 193:The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway.
1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Through the Valley of the Shadow”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A L Burt Company, , published March 1915, →OCLC, page 137:It was now a beautiful, moonlit night. The air was crisp and invigorating. Behind them lay the interminable vista of the desert, dotted here and there with an occasional oasis.
1983 February 5, Joseph Van Ness, “Keeping It Alive”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 28, page 10:Life's interminable succession of stages.
Derived terms
Translations
existing or occurring without interruption or end
Noun
interminable (plural interminables)
- (mathematics, dated) A repeating decimal.
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin interminābilis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
interminable m or f (masculine and feminine plural interminables)
- interminable, unending
Derived terms
Further reading
- “interminable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies , April 2007
- “interminable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
- “interminable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “interminable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin interminābilis. By surface analysis, in- + terminer + -able.
Pronunciation
Adjective
interminable (plural interminables)
- unending, endless, ceaseless, neverending
Further reading
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /inteɾmiˈnable/
- Rhymes: -able
- Syllabification: in‧ter‧mi‧na‧ble
Adjective
interminable m or f (masculine and feminine plural interminables)
- interminable
- Synonym: inacabable
- unending
- Synonym: infinito
Derived terms
Further reading